FARMINGTON, Maine  -- Husson College women's soccer defended their NAC tournament title defeating the host University of Maine at Farmington team Sunday 1-0 at Prescott Field. The Beavers -- previously unbeaten in 12 NAC regular season and playoff matches -- ended their season at 14-5-2. The Eagles will take their 13-7-1 record to the NCAA Division III Tournament as the conference's automatic qualifier. The tournament field is scheduled to be released on Monday.

Megan Clement (Brunswick, ME) gave Husson a 1-0 lead 18:10 into the match when her looping shot was out of the reach of Farmington goalkeeper Kerry Kowalczyk (Topsham, ME).

The Beavers -- who held an 11-6 advantage in shots -- had numerous opportunities to even the contest in the second half. In the opening moments of the frame, Chelsea Norton (Westbrook, ME) was robbed on a leaping block by Husson netminder Tatyana Wolterbeek (Wells, ME). Wolterbeek also made a gutshot save on a Jackie Mrazik (Mount Vernon, ME) bullet in the 65th minute. Mrazik was also stoned by the crossbar on a direct kick in the 73rd minute.

Wolterbeek finished with three saves in the victory.

Kowalczyk and Melissa Demerchant (Presque Isle, ME) shared netminding duties for the Beavers with Demerchant making a save.

The loss ended the soccer coaching career of Farmington's Bob Leib. In his 31st fall at the helm of a Beavers' program, Leib is retiring with a record of 411-157-50. Since 1996, he has amassed a record of 151-63-16 for the women's program. In 25 years with the men's team, he had a record of 260-94-34.

2007 NAC All-Tournament Team 

NAC Tournament MVP - Caitlin Nickerson, Husson
Meredith Homer, Husson
Megan Clement, Husson
Megan LaJoie, Husson
Tatyana Wolterbeek, Husson
Melissa Demerchant, Farmington
Heidi Jackson, Farmington
Chelsea Norton, Farmington
Krystyna Gagne, Elms
Alicia Bobbie, Elms
Marianne Owens, Bay Path
Samantha Gunseth, Bay Path

NAC Women's Soccer Title Postponed until Sunday

FARMINGTON, Maine – The North Atlantic Conference women's soccer championship game schedule for Saturday at University of Maine at Farmington has been postponed due to forecasted inclement weather. The contest between UMF and Husson hasbeen rescheduled for Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

Fifth seed Elms played top seed UMF through 110 minutes of scoreless soccer before falling in penalty kicks in the NAC Women's Soccer semifinal. UMF will host Husson, 3-0 winners over Bay Path, Saturday for the Championship.

UMF women's soccer wins semifinal shootout over Elms

FARMINGTON, Maine -- Melissa St. Amand (Windsor, ME), Ashley Tetreault (Spencer, MA) and Amber Murphy (Manchester, NH) each converted a penalty kick and netminder Melissa Demerchant (Presque Isle, ME) came up with a pair of stops as the top-seeded University of Maine at Farmington women's soccer team won the penalty kick shootout to get past No. 5 Elms in the North Atlantic Conference semifinals on Tuesday at Prescott Field.

The Beavers (14-4-2) are scheduled to host No. 2 Husson (13-6-1) in the NAC title game on Saturday. Game time is to be announced. The Blazers closed out their season at 7-9-2.

Despite holding a 21-6 shot advantage and an 8-1 command in corner kicks, Farmington needed PKs to slip past Elms. Conversions by St. Amand and Tetreault were each followed by stops from Demerchant -- who only played in the shootout -- as the senior goalkeeper stopped a bullet by Jamie Walsh (Springfield, MA) with a dive and blocked a kick by Caitlin Childs (Hingham, MA). After an exchange of goals by Murphy and Elms' Vanessa Pare (Belchertown, MA), Farmington's Liv Irons (York, ME) was snubbed by Elms goalkeeper Shannon Donnelly (Florence, MA) to leave the door open for the Blazers. A shot by Elms' Shannon Schickler (Adams, MA) went wide for the Beavers to advance to the title game.

Farmington had a number of chances to seal the match in regulation as Jackie Mrazik (Mount Vernon, ME) had a doorstep bid blocked by an Elms defender in the opening half and had a chance blocked high by Donnelly with under three minutes left in the contest. Irons just missed on a pair of attempts in the extra sessions and Elms had an opportunity when a Walsh boot from just inside midfield was booted around in the box, but neither could convert.

Kerry Kowalczyk (Topsham, ME) stopped two shots for Farmington in 110 minutes of play.

Donnelly finished with nine saves in the loss.

UMF women's soccer advances to semifinals

FARMINGTON -- The University of Maine at Farmington women's soccer team opened the North Atlantic Conference tournament with a 6-1 win over Johnson State at Prescott Field on Saturday.

The No. 1 Beavers improved to 14-4-1 overall, while the Badgers closed out their season at 8-8 (4-7). Farmington is scheduled to host No. 5 Elms (a 2-0 winner over No. 4 Lesley) in semifinal action on Tuesday. The game is tabbed for a 2 p.m. start.

The top-seeded Beavers were led by Chelsea Norton (Westbrook, ME) with two goals and an assist. Julie Walters (Wells, ME), Melissa St. Amand (Windsor, ME), Jackie Mrazik (Mount Vernon, ME) and Ashley Tetreault (Spencer, MA) each tallied a goal in the victory with Liv Irons (York, ME)Amanda Byrne (Winslow, ME). and

An unassisted tally by Norton and a Walters putback of a Irons bid gave Farmington a 2-0 edge at intermission, but the hosts used a four-goal explosion in the second half to put the contest away as the Beavers held a 28-1 command in shots and took nine corner kicks to zero for the Badgers.

Staci Cutting (Rochester, VT) scored for Johnson State at 81:25 to quash the shutout.

Kerry Kowalczyk (Topsham, ME) and Melissa Demerchant (Presque Isle, ME) split time in goal for the Beavers with neither making a save.

Jenna Wulfson (Shelburne, VT) worked the first 68:03 in goal for Johnson State with seven saves. Emma Porrett (Glenview, IL) made two saves to close out the contest.

Husson Turns Back Maine Maritime 4-0; Advances to Semifinals

Bangor, ME – The #2 seeded Eagles advanced to NAC Semi-Finals with a 4-0 win over #7 MaineMaritime Academy.  Megan LaJoie (FY, Van Buren, ME) had two goals to pace Husson.  Husson improves to 12-6 while Maine Maritime Academy finishes the season at 9-8. 

LaJoie scored her first goal 12:58 into the game, on a nice individual run down the middle of the field.  She fired a shot past Lacey Jackson (FY, York, PA) on the right side.  LaJoie put Husson up 2-0 at the 20:25 mark in the first half when she cleaned up a defensive miscue. 

Megan Clement made it 3-0 with 12:33 left in the first half.  Clement dribbled the ball through traffic and found an open space on the left side of the goal and got it past Jackson on a tough angle. 

Jackson finished with 5 saves against 15 shots.  In the second half, she made back to back beautiful saves first coming out to block a LaJoie shot and then while on her back stopping Katie Nickerson (JR, Belfast, ME) from putting home the rebound. 

Nickerson added a late goal off a nice assists from Amy Sanz (FY, Tyngsboro, MA).  Tatyana Wolterbeek had 4 saves against 4 shots for Husson. 

Husson advances to the NAC Semi-Finals and will host the winner of #6 Bay Path College, MA at #3 Castleton State, VT.  The semi-final match up will be played on Tuesday, October 30th at 2:00 PM.

Bay Path upsets Castleton in quarterfinal round of NAC Tournament

Castleton, VT-The third-seeded Castleton State College women’s soccer team fell in a penalty-kick shoot-out to sixth-seeded Bay Path College.

With the game knotted at 1-1 after 110 minutes of play, the teams advanced to the shoot-out round. Both teams made four out of five attempts, forcing a golden goal scenario. The Wildcats would make good on their first try as Jacqui Siddle beat Castleton keeper, Micole Bellimer to give Bay Path the 5-4 edge. Castleton could not convert on its ensuing attempt and Bay Path will advance.

Bay Path jumped out the early lead as Sylvia Galvan scored her first goal of the season in the ninth minute of play. The Wildcats would hold strong on defense for the remainder of the period, buoyed by three saves by keeper, Samanth Gunseth.

Castleton would tie the score in the 50th minute as Ashley Ledoux scored her 11th goal of the season to tie the game. Both defenses would be tested, but neither would break.

Castleton held a distinct 29-4 advantage in shots and a 13-0 advantage in corner kicks, but Gunseth and her defense held strong and did not allow another goal.

Gunseth ended up with 14 saves in the win, while Bellimer stopped two in the loss.

The Wildcats’ record goes to 7-8-3 and the team will travel to #2 Husson College for the semifinal round on Tuesday, October 30th, time to be determined. Castleton ends its season at 11-7-2.

Elms Defeats Lesley in NAC Quarterfinal 2-0

Cambridge, MA – The Blazers got two goals from leading scorer Krystyna Gagne as Elms College walked away victorious over Lesley University in their NAC Quarterfinal match up.

It took Gagne only 26 seconds into the first half to score the game-winning goal as sophomore Kelsey Battige sent a pass through the Lynx defenders to Gagne, who hit the left corner of the net past keeper Hailee Lowe (Hamilton, MA). 

With their leading scorer Jodi Fralick (Woburn, MA) out of the game in the first half due to injury, the score remained 1-0 going into halftime. 

In the second half, the Lynx out shot their opponents 23-6 with several close opportunities to score.  In the 60th minute, Lynx freshman Lauren Mastellone (Howell, NJ) crossed to Lani Cabral-Pini (Wilmington, MA) whose header sailed wide left.  Just a minute later, Cabral-Pini had another chance to head the ball in off a Cathryn Folkestad (Ipswich, MA) corner kick, but this one missed wide right.

At 64:50, Gagne would score her second goal of the game unassisted as she raced up the field by herself at the keeper.  Lowe came out of the goalie box to stop Gagne and ended up deflecting the shot right back to the Blazers striker.  Gagne finished the play with an empty net goal to put Elms up 2-0. 

The Lynx kept shooting, but Blazers keeper Shannon Donnelly made six saves in the half (seven total) to post a playoff shut out.  The game ended with a final score of 2-0 and Elms advanced onto the NAC Semifinals to face #1 seed Maine-Farmington. 

October 23, 2007

2007 NAC Women's Soccer Championship Seeding Announced

With an overall record of 13-3-1 including a 9-0-1 conference mark, the University of Maine-Farmington will enter the upcoming North Atlantic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament as the top seed, when tournament play begins this Saturday, October 27. The Beavers will host eighth seeded Johnson State (8-7-0 overall, 4-6-0 NAC) who tied for sixth in the conference standings but was seeded eighth following predetermined tiebreakers.

Defending NAC Champion Husson (11-6-1 overall), who posted a 9-1-0 mark in conference play, will be the tournament’s second seed will host seventh seeded Maine Maritime (9-7-0 overall, 4-6 NAC). Castleton earned the third seed with a 8-1-1 record in conference play. The Spartans (11-7-1 overall) will meet to sixth seed Bay Path (7-8-2 overall, 3-5-2 NAC) on Saturday. Fifth seed Elms (6-9-1 overall, 5-4-1 NAC) will travel to fourth seed Lesley (13-3-1 overall, 6-3-1 NAC) for a quarterfinal contest.

The top eight teams qualify for the NAC Championship. Predetermined tiebreaking procedures were used to seed teams with identical conference winning percentages. Quarterfinal games will be played on Saturday, October 27 at 1:00 p.m. at the higher seed. Quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals held at the higher seed on Tuesday, October 30 at 2:00 p.m. Semifinal winners will meet Saturday, November 3 at the highest remaining seed. Game times are subject to change. The NAC Champion receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Championship.